Way to go Sinn Fein

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

The past is less important to me than the future, I'd be willing to vote for SF too if they purged all the ex-terrorists from the party.

Bannasidhe wrote: »

'purged' - interesting term to use.

DUBLIN—Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny and his Labour Party coalition partners have suffered a huge slump in support in European and local elections as voters kicked back against the long years of painful austerity measures, according to an exit poll released Saturday morning.

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny arrives at a European Union leaders summit in Brussels on March 21 Reuters






Friday's local and European elections are a key midterm test of the coalition, its first since it swept to power at the height of the country's crisis more than three years ago, and the outcome could strain relations between Mr. Kenny's Fine Gael, a right-of-center party, and its junior coalition partner, Labour, a left-of-center party led by Deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore. At the early 2011 parliamentary elections, the two parties won a huge combined vote of 56%.
Ireland has been hailed by the European Union as the poster child for austerity and its exit from its three-year bailout in December cited as proof of what compliant countries can achieve.
However, the exit poll by Irish broadcaster RTE News following Friday's European and local elections suggests that voters have delivered a severe blow to Mr. Kenny's coalition and switched support to independents, Sinn Féin and other opposition parties that are known for their strident opposition to austerity.
The poll suggests that Mr. Kenny's Fine Gael party will win 22% of the votes in the European elections, down sharply from its 36% result in the 2011 parliamentary elections, while junior partner Labour will win 6% of the vote—a slump from the 19% it won more than three years ago.
Fianna Fáil, the largest opposition party, will win 22% of the European vote, up from its 17.5% result in 2011, while Sinn Féin, the second-largest opposition party, will climb to 17% from the 10% of the vote it won in 2011, RTE News said.
Independent candidates and other parties will win at least 27% of the European vote, the poll also suggests. The exit poll of 3,081 voters has a margin of error of 1.7%. Results of the votes to fill 11 seats to represent Ireland at the European Parliament won't be officially declared before Sunday evening, but early estimates will be known before then.
The government has said that the program of tax increases and spending cuts is almost complete and were necessary to bring the country back from financial ruin following its huge banking and property bust in 2008. But a number of Labour government ministers conceded Saturday that voters had punished the coalition, and the Labour Party in particular, for its support of austerity measures, such as new property and water taxes.
Energy Minister and senior Labour politician Pat Rabbitte said that voters had vented "their vengeance in the ballot box," and were telling the coalition that they had had enough of the long years of tax increases and spending cuts. The government would continue to mend the economy, while "very positive" indicators suggested recovery was under way, he said.
"People wanted to give us a good smack [on Friday] and that happened," Budget Minister and senior Labour politician Brendan Howlin said.
Counting of ballots to fill almost 950 seats in local elections also started Saturday. The RTE exit poll suggests that Mr. Kenny's Fine Gael will win 24% of the local votes, and Mr. Gilmore's Labour will secure 7% of the local ballots. Independents will poll at least 28%, while Fianna Fáil will win 22% and Sinn Féin 16% of the local votes, the exit poll says.
Counting of votes in two parliamentary by-elections that also took place Friday also started Saturday.

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

focusing on one word from a persons post is not a reply.

Dan_Solo wrote: »

It's right up there with "cop on" in uselessness isn't it?